How can a payroll service help you to hire a paid carer?

Posted on 06/06/2014

Hiring a paid carer for yourself or a relative is a great
way to ensure that you have the right person for the job, as well as the
flexibility to determine what tasks need doing, at what times and how much it
will cost. We have a detailed guide on how
to hire a paid carer on the website, and one of those points is to know
your responsibilities as an employer, especially when it comes to arranging
payment and making the necessary deductions for tax and National Insurance.

It is this financial side of things that can put many people
off of hiring a paid carer, choosing to use an agency instead so that the
agency is responsible for payment and deductions. This is a good solution for
many people, but it does mean that you lose some control over the care that you
receive – you might find the carers that are sent have a limited time before
their next appointment or that it’s not the same person every time.

Using a payroll service can be a good solution. This means
that you can still be an employer with all the benefits that come with it, but they
will do all of the calculations and liaising with HMRC on your behalf so you
don’t have to worry about money matters.

How does a payroll service work?

A payroll service will help you to register as an employer
with HMRC and will then act on your behalf to ensure that the relevant payments
and deductions are made. You will supply details of your paid carer, including
their personal information, the amount you are going to pay them, and how often
you are going to pay them. At the end of the pay period, be that a week, four
weeks or a month, you supply a timesheet to the payroll company which details
the hours that your employee has worked (and any holiday/sickness taken). The
payroll service will calculate how much you owe to the paid carer and how much
is owed to HMRC, then they will issue a pay slip for your employee with all the
details on. All you have to do is transfer the money. The payroll service will
also supply P60s and P45s as needed.

What does it cost?

Of course, using a payroll service costs money, so you need
to offset the amount against the benefits that it brings to you in terms of
reduced administration. There are various payroll companies out there, and
You’re the Boss offers a dedicated payroll service for employers of paid
carers. It costs £10 to set up a new payroll per employee, and then £8 per payslip
issued. As a guide, if you had one paid carer in your employ and you paid them
on a monthly basis, then it would cost you a total of £127.20 for a year. You
can find out more about costs and our payroll service here.

Any questions?

If you want to know more about this topic, then please feel
free to get in touch with us using the Contact form.